LANSDALE >> Plans are taking shape for a six-story apartment building to be built on the site of the former Third and Walnut Street bar in Lansdale, and the developer behind it is hoping to make a statement.

Dr. Ross Ziegler, a Harleysville dentist with long ties to the area, presented plans on Monday for a building he hopes to be the greenest in the area and spur further growth in Lansdale.

“I’m picking an area in Lansdale that’s neglected, it’s drug infested, and I’m trying to turn things around. This project hits Walnut Street, the end of the block is Broad Street, and it hits Main Street — it’s got a good chance of being a catalyst to revitalize here,” he said.

“My intention here is to capture the people commuting on the train. What I want to do here is get the nurses, physicians, accountants, architects, going down to the city — or up to Doylestown,” he said.

The ground floor and one below-ground floor would be used for parking and utilities, according to Ziegler and a team of consultants led by Mike Rosen, a principal with green design and development firm BSB Design. The six-story building would be set back from the neighboring homes by a pocket park, and feature a green roof and underground stormwater cistern meant to recycle much of the runoff from the building for irrigation. The brick and glass building would be shaped like a “C” around a central courtyard, with planters at street level to break up sightlines.

“What we were going for is something that would be comfortable in Lansdale, that would not look out of place, that would not be too competitive or too off-the-charts,” Rosen said.

Additional green-friendly elements could include heating and cooling systems that draw from geothermal temperatures below ground, and use of direct instead of alternating electrical current throughout.

“My goal is to put Lansdale on the map as far as sustainability, and this should be the start. If we do this right, we’ve got something,” Ziegler said.

Apartment units would be a mix of single, double, and studio units, and Ziegler and Rosen said a marketing study is still underway but they hope to charge roughly $2 per square foot, so in the range of $1,500 to $2,000 per month. By attracting young professionals, Ziegler said, the building could help bring new life to businesses downtown and parcels in need of development nearby, with a reduced traffic impact due to the transit-oriented nature.

“We get these young people that have a significant amount of income. They’ll be spending money. What I want them to do is like the area: they feel comfortable here, they get a job here, they’re in the apartment for three or four years, and all of a sudden the area gets redeveloped,” Ziegler said.

According to Ziegler and Rosen, the properties across Walnut Street and across Third Street are included in the borough’s downtown overlay district which allows the building height and parking density necessary to support the development, and what they termed an “annexation” of the parcel into the overlay could let the project meet all necessary conditions. Borough Director of Community Development John Ernst said zoning map amendments could in time be considered by the commission and borough council, but plans must be finalized and the needed waivers and approvals outlined first.

Questions raised by the planning commission after their first look at the project Monday included accommodations for trash service, sewer flow, and the traffic impact of the proposed project. Ziegler and Rosen said those details will be worked out as plans are finalized, and Ernst suggested the developer hold a meeting with all borough department heads to outline their plans and raise all possible concerns.

Ziegler asked if the planning commission could waive the need for a traffic study to be done to accompany the project, and Ernst said borough traffic engineer Earl Armitage will be included in plan review and will likely require that study.

“I’m sitting here thinking ‘There’s no way you’re not going to have to do a traffic study with 100-some-odd apartment units in this neighborhood.’ You’ll be lucky if the traffic study says you don’t need to do anything,” Ernst said.

Montgomery County Planning Commission liaison Mike Narcowich asked if the developers have looked at the shadow impact of the building on the nearby neighborhood, and Rosen and Ziegler showed a three-dimensional model of the building able to model shadows during different seasons and times of day.

“The project is still very pliable, very flexible. It’s still very, very early on — we’re still trying to get a feel for everything. That’s why we’re here,” Rosen said.

Ziegler said as a North Penn High School graduate and former employee at the American Olean tile factory near Cannon Avenue, he’s seen several decades of decline around the town, and hopes he can start reversing that process to make Lansdale resemble, and in time surpass, other area towns.

“Doylestown 20 years ago was not what it is now, and we’ve got what Phoenixville doesn’t have — we’ve got that train. And there’s no reason why we can’t be better than those other boroughs, absolutely no reason in my mind,” Ziegler said.

Lansdale’s planning commission next meets at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 21 at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine St. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.Lansdale.org or follow @LansdalePA on Twitter.